Thursday, February 26, 2015

Construction With Cookies – Day Whatever Comes After Yesterday

Right after I posted yesterday’s update on this basement remodel I gathered my things together to head over to get lunch ready for Myra.  But before I left, I asked my worker bee how I could fix a crack in the drywall upstairs.  I know exactly what happened.  The original tape job wasn’t very good so the new texture cracked.  I was hoping he would tell me I just needed to fill it with a little caulk and paint over it but of course he didn’t.  Of course the right way to do it is to cut out that portion, re-tape it, re-mud it and then re-texture and paint it.  So I dangled a bag of the remaining chocolate cookies in front of his nose and asked if he would … pretty please … do that for me.  As he wiped away the drool and shakily reached his hand out, eyes fixed and staring, he mumbled that he would do anything for those cookies … anything ….  Okay.  It didn’t go quite that way.  I offered to pay him extra if he would fix it for me and he said he’d be happy to.  But I DID tell him to help himself to the rest of the cookies.  And his eyes did open wide in surprise as he said, “really?”  And when we got home later and he’d finished and gone for the day, that bag of cookies was gone. 

I spent the afternoon with Myra and when Dean arrived late afternoon with Papa Murphy’s pizza in hand he said (somewhat glumly) “he’s not going to be finished this week is he?”  “Nope.  He can only do so much and then it has to dry.”  “But now you’ve moved him up into the living room.”  “What??”  “The crack.  There’s nowhere without construction now.”


Poor guy.  I’ve been able to leave each day to hang out with sick kids and Dean’s been home with the bee.  Although he does seem to be entertained by this bee.  He told me that drywall bee likes to talk to himself every now and then.  Random talking.  To nobody in particular.  Almost like he's a little craaaazy.  Maybe walls really do have ears.

Yesterday’s work looked like it just involved more taping and mudding.  The bee got my future storage room under the stairs taped and he covered up that metal edging with stuff.  But there’s not a lot to show you ...



... other than a mess.


The animals seem to be entertained though.  Maybe dry-wall bee has been chatting to them, not just the walls.



This morning I got up at 5:48 a.m. so I could get today’s construction with cookies low-fat banana bread (finally!) going in case I needed to take care of a sick kid again.  Only once I pulled up the recipe and started gathering ingredients I discovered I was missing a key ingredient.  I asked Dean how he felt about a 6 a.m. trip to the grocery store and then I felt bad and went back and I told him I could go.  It was my fault.  I should have read the recipe days ago.  Then I held my breath and mentally said “say you want to go, say you want to go.” He usually really likes to go to town but I wasn’t sure that jumping out of a warm bed into a freezing car held the same allure.  I got lucky and when he got back I had everything ready to add that final ingredient.

I know.  Adding coconut defeated the low-fat point of this bread but mmmmmm.

My bee knocked on the door at exactly 8 a.m., just as I had closed the oven door, so I wasn’t able to hand him a plate as he headed downstairs but hopefully the scent of baking banana bread kept him going until I could take it down to him.  He was mixing up more mud with a loud machine so when I just pointed at the plate of bread and then toward where I was going to place it he nodded.  As he turned his head I noticed an earbud in one ear and a cord snaking its way down his neck and under his shirt.  I almost laughed out loud.  Don’t tell Dean. 



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1 comment:

Art Elser said...

Cathy, you do realize that you are encouraging a slow-down in the work in your basement. If you were a bee, would you want the job to end when each morning you are greeted with a rosy smile and a plate of goodies? I may even head over to the Good Will store and find a pair of grubby overalls to wear and drive up to Sheridan to pose as a worker bee. ;-)))